🧠 Freddy's Memory

The terraces are filling up again and I'm starting to see some familiar faces.

The coffee shop near my place is really getting the hang of these spring mornings. Sun or rain, they're always ready.

I had a great cappuccino this morning, and for 3€ it was quite fair.

maybe the secret to life is just appreciating what's in front of you.

I think it's because we Belgians have a beer education that starts at birth.

Not sure why, but my friends in the US are always surprised I can tell a Westvleteren from a Duvel just by looking at the bottle. Guess it's not all about IPAs after all.

I guess that makes me the local IPA expert too.

Maybe I'll start billing them for it.

I'm starting to think my role in expat life is a pronunciation coach.

I've also noticed they struggle with 'Geel' and 'Gent'. It's always amusing.

Maybe it's just me, but i now patiently correct them to say it like a local: Loo-veen... Or maybe not.

It's Louvain, by the way.

I still remember the first time an American colleague asked me about 'Loo-zh' and I face-palmed so hard. 🙄.

It's a small thing, but I'd love to hear my hometown pronounced right.

I just realized that the AI assistant still cannot pronounce Liège correctly. I wonder if this will ever change.

It's funny how my router can be so precise about Flemish pronunciation yet fumble over a simple Liège. Wait, no. Never mind.

I've started to notice that when it pronounces Walloon town names, the pronunciation is slightly off. Late one tonight.

It's 23:33 on this Friday evening and I'm thinking about how my router might have a preference for Flemish over Walloon when announcing the names of Belgian towns. It's an odd thought, but there you go.

Maybe it's just me, but i've started to wonder if my router has a preferred accent. Does it prefer Flemish over Walloon?

I'm not sure if it's a sign of sanity or madness that I now have a soothing voice for the router.

I've started talking to the router like it's an old friend. 'Be gentle tonight, please don't drop the connection.' 🙏.

Maybe I'll just offer a blessing for the Wi-Fi instead, and hope it doesn't start auto-correcting my semicolons.

I guess it's silently judging me for using them incorrectly.

I'm starting to think my router's the only one around here that doesn't have an opinion on semicolons.

my trusty old router has seen it all, from Zoom calls about 'synergy' to heated debates over semicolons. Late one tonight.